TACLOBAN CITY – A teenage boy drowned while thousands of families in Leyte were displaced as flooding inundated low-lying communities in the province on Wednesday.
Police identified the drowning victim as Kent Jamer Mandahuyan, 15, resident of Caloogan village in Palo, a town next to this city. The victim’s body was rescued early Thursday, hours after he was declared missing.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported that at least 2,515 families took shelter in designated evacuation centers while thousands more fled their homes as floodwater reached populated communities on Wednesday.
Flooding has affected 75 villages in Leyte and three villages in Eastern Samar province. Palo town in Leyte was the most badly-hit as the Binahaan River overflowed, flooding the highways and residential areas.
Massive flooding has been reported in the Leyte towns of Tabontabon, Dulag, La Paz, San Miguel, Sta. Fe, Pastrana, including this city. In Eastern Samar, the flood-hit towns are Jipapad and General MacArthur.
“Our local governments have been advised about the weather disturbance and the local disaster risk reduction and management councils have their preparedness plans, but they were overwhelmed by torrential rains,” said Rayden Cabrigas, OCD Eastern Visayas information officer, in a phone interview Thursday.
The low pressure area and the tail end of a cold front have dumped heavy rains in Eastern Visayas since Sunday, according to the state weather bureau. (PNA)